For those of you out there who may never have heard about it, what is commonly known as a “gluten-free diet”, is a special one which people with celiac disease, or others with wheat allergies or even those wishing to lose weight, choose to adopt.

This type of diet is important for those people with e dermatitis herpetiformis, where ingesting wheat generates skin lesions. There are other people who decide on a gluten-free diet because it helps them with digestion, even when they are not specifically allergic to wheat or sensitive to it.

When going on such a diet, you must stay clear of all forms of wheat, barley, kamut, spelt, rye, and even oats.

For people out there who have been diagnosed with coeliac disease, a strict adherence to the diet is vital for the very best results.

Being Aware of the Ingredients of Foods

Alongside the none consumption of wheat in its conventional form, such as in bread, cereals, or crackers, those with allergies must also eliminate numerous food additives, and find out which ingredients in foods come from wheat.

You must find out whether ingredients have been contaminated with wheat flour, when foods are processed in food factories which make use of wheat.

In the great majority of cases, this kind of diet doesn’t stop people from eating nearly all fruits or vegetables, meats, fish, oils, or dairy products. But, if something is not homemade and not labelled as being “gluten free,” it will have to be seen as suspect and possibly containing wheat.

As an example, a lot of sausages contain gluten fillers, and MSG in a soup can make it off limits for those on this kind of diet.

One ingredient called maltodextrin that is commonly used as a filler must also be avoided.

Preparing Food at Home

The presence of so many wheat by-products in such a wide range of foods means that being on such a diet can be slightly time consuming! Certainly, it is in most people’s best interests to prepare their foods at home, then they can control all ingredients and avoid any accidental wheat contact.

There are a number of companies that make gluten-free diet foods, which include bread made with gluten free flours, frozen pizzas, crackers and more.

These may however be somewhat more expensive on average than foods which contain wheat.

Special recipe cookbooks are available which help people on a gluten-free diet and how to properly prepare plenty of interesting and different food types. You can also find information on gluten-free packaged or processed foods, on internet websites.

These also provide information on weight loss and for those interested what you should do to get yourself back into shape.